2013 Film Selection

India / 2012 / 124mins / directed by Dhiraj MeshramBased on the Award-winning novel by Sadanand Deshmukh, this film visits rural India and the issues of corruption, unemployment and farmers’ suicides amidst harsh socio-economic conditions. The story of hope and determination as two brothers, both educated and jobless, take on the system in entirely contrasting ways. DC Premiere

Switzerland / 2012 / 73mins / directed by Peter LuisiAfter 16-year-old Mia gets hurt in love, she and her sister decide to take revenge on a boy. When other people and unexpected feelings start getting involved, the game of the two girls suddenly begins to take on dangerous proportions. East Coast Premiere

Canada / 2012 / 91mins / directed by Mark Sawers
A dark comedy about a corrupt city councilman (Nicolas Wright) whose life spins out of control after a mysterious cameraman begins terrorizing him. East Coast Premiere

UK / 2012 / 88mins / directed by Nicholas David Lean
When Carl (Wil Johnson) reluctantly agrees to a strained weekend away with his family, a trip to the remote Welsh moors becomes a HORRIFIC fight for survival as a convoy of carnival travelers violently forces the family off the road. US Premiere

USA / 2013 / 108mins / directed by Jane Clark
Kyle Peoples (Lukas Haas) sees a chance to escape his mundane reality, but his new friendship with Maia (Necar Zadegan) and Dusty (Blake Berris), and the trio’s love of crystal meth eventually cost Kyle everything – his job, his lover (Wilson Cruz), his family and his home. World Premiere

USA / 2012 / 75 mins / directed by Nicholas Richards
Near Normal, Illinois, but certainly far from normal, this is a strange day in the life of Phin (Geno Rathbone) who, stuck in a gorilla costume, must raise $3000 after his neighbor holds Phin’s car for ransom. World Premiere

Philippines & USA / 2012 / 81mins / directed by Paul Sta Ana
A gritty, gripping story unfolds in a Philippine slum, where even death becomes a provider as people exploit the dead in order to survive by holding sakla (illegal gambling) at staged wakes. US Premiere

Switzerland / 2012 / 88mins / directed by Korinna Sehringer
A successful Native American writer whose novel sold out his family finds himself pulled back home to San Carlos Apache reservation. A story about a Native-American family with unique struggles yet universal truths and a film with a stellar Native-American cast; Chaske Spencer, Gil Birmingham, Q’orianka Kilcher, Tyler Christopher, Tantoo Cardinal and Rodney A. Grant. DC Premiere

Canada / 2012 / 72mins / directed by Ryan Mc KennaOffbeat and deadpan, this is a bitter-sweet tale about a young man in Portugal who, having impregnated a vacationing Canadian, must face the inhospitable Canadian landscape and its hopeless denizens when he emigrates to join her. East Coast Premiere

UK/2012/ 98mins / directed by Jacob Cartwright and Nick Jordan
An aesthetically powerful film about Cairo, Illinois, isolated at the confluence of the Ohio & Mississippi rivers, where the North meets the South. Original cinematography and candid interviews with archive footage, unseen for over 40 years, capturing the town at the height of explosive racial tensions in 1969.

Germany/ 2013/ 65mins/ directed by Sophie Hamacher
John Roemer, high school teacher and social activist, takes us through heated battles of the Civil Rights Movement. Set in Baltimore, a city with a turbulent history of charged race relations, the film shows Roemer’s distinctive style of teaching and his ardent call for activism.

USA / 2012 / 97 mins / Peter SwansonThe film follows Rowan LeCompte and Dieter Goldkuhle as they make their last great window for Washington National Cathedral. These two grand masters of stained glass labor to create a masterpiece in a race against time. Told with stunningly beautiful images, this is a story about the struggle to create great art using glass and light.

Mexico / 2012 / 76mins / directed by Sergio Morkin
In 2007, an unknown Northern California rock band called the Ginger Ninjas set out to tour Mexico. With no van and no gigs, they hauled their instruments, camping gear and human-powered sound system on special bicycles: An exploration of youthful freedom, transformation and relationships among these eco-travelers.

USA / 2013 / 30mins / directed by Sam Hampton
In 1951 John Stokes helped organize a walkout by over 400 fellow African American high school students in Farmville, Virginia to protest segregated school conditions.

USA / 2013 / 15mins / directed by Wayne Thomas William Albert Allard, a photojournalist for National Geographic, has defined a style of photography through his use of color and composition and a humanistic approach. World Premiere

USA / 2012 / 83mins / directed by Nicole Karsin
In Colombia’s indigenous villages, three brave women from distinct tribes guide us through their worlds. Trapped in a protracted predicament that is fueled by the drug war, indigenous women use their resources and tradition to lead in a transforming way imbued with hope.

USA / 2012 / 24mins / directed by Francisco Lupini Pepa, a Spanish spitfire hairdresser and aspiring mystery writer, must put her amateur detective skills to work in order to discover the true father of her unborn baby.

Canada / 2012 / 9mins / directed by Eva ColmersJack is excited to pick up his new baby sister and mother from the hospital where he bumps into an old, confused Granny. Jack wants to help the elderly lady, but how?

Switzerland / 2012 / 14:38mins / directed by Anthony Jerjen
To avoid bankruptcy, a magician named Leonard decides to perform the biggest and most dangerous trick of his career, despite the advice of his manager.

Belgium, France, Switzerland / 2012 / 25mins / directed by Izu Troin It is 1862 and snow isolates an inn at the foot of a glacier in the Swiss Alps rendering it totally inaccessible and impossible to leave (based on the story L’auberge” by Guy de Maupassant).

Canada / 17:45 mins / directed by Owen Coughlan
Brilliant Scientist Fang overhears Freud and Jung arguing about the nature of dreams: When Fang suggests a third possibility they beat him up and steal his wallet. And then… (Mask characters with animation).

Switzerland / 2013 / 5mins / directed by Elena Schoenfeld and Martine UlmerDivided and falling, entwined with tongues, a cat runs from noses to ears. Here’s a mouse, there’s a djembé. To the elephant’s leg and back: Mind the Cat!!

Germany / 2012 / 29mins / directed by Hannes Rall
An adaptation of the German tale ‘The Cold Heart’ by Wilhelm Hauff, the story of a young man who trades his warm heart for a cold stone in order to become rich (with color design by renowned animation-designer Hans Bacher).

2011 /Argentina / 6mins / directed by Juan Pablo Zaramello.
In a world controlled and timed by the light, a common man has a plan that could change the destiny. Oscar-nominated stop motion animation (not in competition).